Welcome to the RedState Weekly Briefing  — where we take a quick look at the week’s most viewed stories in case you missed any of them. Grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this 21st Century Weekend Edition of your favorite (online) publication!

#1 – Bette Midler Uses July 4th to Declare Independence From Wokeness, Stuns Everyone in the Process — by Sister Toldjah

Worse yet, it’s women like Reps. AOC and Cori Bush who are selling out other women by using terms like “menstruating people” and “birthing people” to describe, ya know, actual women. Other supposedly enlightened leftists have even taken to altering quotes from iconic feminists and/or reducing women to their lady parts in an effort to sound “inclusive” and “welcoming” to those born men but who now identify as women.

“The Divine Miss M” has taken the first step to understanding that something is wrong, very wrong, with the movement underfoot to essentially declare that there are no differences between men and women. The next one she can take is to look in the mirror and at the “woke” female “leaders” she supports.

#2 – Extremely Weird Detail About the Highland Park Shooter Revealed by Authorities — by Bonchie

I think that’s probably a good read. The shooter clearly has no concept of reality nor the harm he caused. To say he’s mentally ill isn’t to provide an excuse for his behavior, but to simply state reality.

I say all that to say that the rush to make him a Trump supporter or a Bernie Sanders fan just misses the point. Sometimes people are just legitimately insane. This guy is legitimately insane, in my view. Using his horrendous act as a bludgeon against one’s political opponents just comes across as ghoulish given what we now know.

#3 – Chris Pratt’s ‘The Terminal List’ Is Sending Leftists Into Conniption Fits While Audiences Love It — by Brandon Morse

In truth, critics aren’t angry about the military action. They’re angry the military action isn’t bookended with deep, tear-filled conversations about the struggles of the LGBT community or a powerful speech by a woman who is far smarter and/or talented than the men around her. It’s a show that gives you a story you can actually sink into without having to worry about some ideological scolding or some propagandistic advertising of a political narrative.

That’s what they really hate about the show. They hate it because they hate you, and this show isn’t doing anything to make you like them.

#4 – Heartbreak at MSNBC as Joy Reid’s ‘Reid Out’ Crashes and Burns in Ratings Wars — by Sister Toldjah

That’s absolutely pathetic, but then again so is Joy Reid.

Reid has undoubtedly emerged as one of the most toxic voices on cable news since she took over Chris Matthews’ 7 pm timeslot. She’s bizarrely suggested that conservatives look for ways to drink COVID “in a Kool-Aid cup,” and has repeatedly referred to prominent black conservatives as “Uncle Toms.” She’s also suggested that gun laws are based on white supremacy and once laughably tried to portray Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (R), who is black, as a puppet for white supremacists.

#5 – DeSantis Fires Back After Gavin Newsom’s Pathetic Anti-Florida Ad Is Revealed — by Bonchie 

The mention of California refugees is the key. The reality is that people from Newsom’s state have been fleeing to Florida in droves over the last several years. Those people aren’t going to be swayed by a dude with too much hair gel virtue signaling about abortion. They are too busy enjoying the success and freedom delivered to them in Florida that they were sorely lacking in California.

To keep it simple, the numbers don’t lie. One person is clearly winning here, and it’s not Gavin Newsom. If anything, the fact that he’s now running ads in a state thousands of miles away shows just how far California has fallen. DeSantis doesn’t even have to respond in kind because his state is booming.